In Sisak (Croatia) TECNALIA is working to establish a global strategy that reduces total consumption of urban energy and improves the natural surroundings of citizens. An initiative that aims to become a pioneering case in the country.
“Smart Energy City SISAK (Croatia)” The city of Sisak, with around 50,000 inhabitants, seeks to be an urban transformation pilot case for its subsequent replication throughout Croatia, where sustainability is the cornerstone for that transformation. Sisak emerged from an industrial crisis (heavy industry) similar to the one in Bilbao that is the benchmark for this urban transformation project as Bilbao has been transformed into a modern technological city, with many green areas and with rational urban planning, along with interesting architectural solutions, that is applicable to the city of Sisak. This pilot project has been co-funded by The Global Environmental Fund and the Croatian government, with the coordination of the United Nations Development Programme in Croatia. It was executed by TECNALIA, the successful bidder in an international public tender, that sought to define and develop the transformation of the city of Sisak into a Smart Energy City by means of:
• Increasing the efficiency of the energy, water and transport system in the city.
• Increasing the stake of the renewable energy sources in the city.
The sustainable transformation of Sisak was underpinned by the following focal points: 1. Water system 2. Traffic flow and transport system 3. Building policy and urban design 4. Energy system 5. Telecommunications system 6. Socio-economic development The defining the different development scenarios of the city, with sustainability being the vector for transformation, required an initial organic (different systems to be found in the city: mobility, energy, transport, etc.) and geographical (9 districts) analysis. Once the initial situation had been analysed in depth, different future development scenarios were defined for the city taking the global macro-trends into account. The scenarios raised were studied with
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local representatives, with whom the future development scenario for the city was established. After a global analysis of the city, a detailed study was performed for each of the 9 districts of the city. Key variables were therefore identified that allow the districts to be assessed against the best global practices and to monitor the transformation process itself. Variables such as percentage of green spaces, levels of accessibility, building density, wooded and other areas, enabled a detailed analysis of the districts, when different actions were assessed. The expert analysis of the different systems present in the city enabled different priority deployment projects to be proposed to ensure that the urban infrastructure would be in line with the sustainable development of the city. The analysis of the transport system in the city was priority fundamentally due to its importance for the city’s economic development, given its geographical situation. The presence of important logistic and energy generation centres has consolidated the key role that energy will play in the future of the city. The analysis of the different available local generation sources allowed renewable energy generation to be optimised in the city. International best practices, along with the environmental impact (quantified in emissions) and the associated development costs, were taken into account to generate possible future scenarios. Furthermore, the optimum funding schemes for the deployment of scenarios were identified. Making the city’s old town a traffic free zone, constructing a new bridge, setting up a new “zero-emissions” district or a new waste water treatment plant were some of the projects identified, by means of which the city could cut its emissions by nearly 30% and at a cost that could be funded.
The final objective of the project is to demonstrate that substantial energy savings and reductions in CO2 emissions are possible through city-level strategic planning, technology integration, and awareness rising.